Rankings, shmankings

IU's position in the recent college rankings reflects the good, the bad and the ugly. \nThough Newsweek ranked IU the Hottest Big State School, it also took a No. 1 position for beer consumption, as well as No. 6 party school by The Princeton Review. In the overall college rankings in U.S. News & World Report, IU fell from No. 71 last year to No. 74.\nThe surveys are based on a number of factors. For example, The Princeton Review's survey was based on responses from 110,000 students nationwide. The methods used, however, are neither scientific nor thorough. \nFirst, the survey was based on only enough students for three Big Ten-sized universities, and The Princeton Review said this survey was conclusive for every college in the entire nation. It also did not use scientific statistical methods of projecting the results of its survey on the entire nation. (And even scientific projection methods have debatable accuracy.)\nThese publications also have a very authoritative reputation -- so they pawn off their findings as the indisputable fact -- and they have the clout among readers to back up their claims. This is misrepresenting an informal survey as authoritative.\nThe authority these publications carry, when combined with the inexperience of high school students, ensure the rankings affect the impressions of many students and parents. The beer and party school rankings in particular negatively impact parents' decisions to send their children to IU because it gives the wrong impression that no one here studies. Also, ambitious students may get the impression that IU's falling three rankings means its academic reputation is on the line.\nWe feel the rankings bear far too much weight in the minds of both students and parents, especially in forming the basis for a decision as important as where to attend college. To quote IU Dean of Students Richard McKaig, "We have to take all rankings with a grain of salt."\nThe true basis for a decision to attend a university should not be on what the staff of a periodical decides based on a misleading survey, but on factors that cannot be judged and ranked: What kind of life will I lead? How will I grow both as a student and as a person? What type of people will I meet? What do I want to study, and can I switch majors easily? These are the questions students should ask to determine their final decision on which college to attend.\nWe do not acknowledge the finality of the rankings, and we actively encourage all students not to hold them in such high esteem. We encourage all students to think independently of what the "authorities" tell them and make their own life decisions based on the information they collect themselves.